HIBS star Alan Maybury insists the club have been proved right in sticking by boss Pat Fenlon.

The Easter Road side surged into the Scottish Premiership’s top six last weekend with a terrific 2-1 away victory at St Johnstone.

It was their second consecutive win on the road and Fenlon’s side finally looked the part after a tough start to the campaign.

The Irish boss was under severe pressure after a humiliating 9-0 Europa League trouncing by Malmo and defeats to Motherwell and rivals Hearts in the league.

But Maybury insists no one inside Easter Road doubted that Fenlon would turn things around – and now expects them to have a successful season. He told Edinburgh Now: “There were a lot of people outside the club talking about the manager’s position.

“Obviously, the European defeat put a bit of pressure on him.

“But it wasn’t what I was saying or anyone within Hibs. The gaffer has just gone about his work and we knew it would take a bit of time to get the balance in the side right.

“We were a bit disjointed at the start but we were confident that when everyone was fit we would have as good a squad as I’ve seen at Hibs in a long time.

“We’re looking forward now. I was always convinced things would turn for us and we’d get it right.

“It was always going to take time for us after all the changes made in the summer. It was basically a new team again. We had to try and get that bedded in and the first few league games could have gone either way, against Motherwell and in the derby against Hearts.

“We lost sloppy goals but we weren’t doing anything major wrong. We’ve slowly built on that and picked up a couple of excellent away wins.”

Maybury refuses to get over-excited about Hibs’ upturn in form. But he’s adamant Fenlon’s new-look squad is an improvement on last term’s and says there is now fierce competition to get into the gaffer’s first team.

He said: “We’re not getting carried away and it’s a long season. But after a difficult start, we’re now in the top six after couple of wins. We have to keep working hard and see where it takes us.

“We have a lot of quality here and when all the players are fully fit, some big players are going to miss out.

“That has to be good for any club. Last season, if someone was coming back from injury and played half an hour in a bounce game, we knew he would probably be back in the first team on the Saturday. That’s the difference this season.

“We have more strength in depth now. We can look after players who are coming back from injury and make sure they’re 100 per cent right. We have terrific competition for places now.

“Everyone has to be on their toes this season – the players know they’ll have to be at their best to get in the team.”